I hope you could relief my anxiety a little bit. Im pregnant and scared is it possible to become HCV infected this way:

I recently took my cat to a vet clinic. The vet asked me to help him when he examined my cat. I helped him and touched a bottle of disinfection liquid. After a while I noticed that there was a little dried blood (couple of drops) on the side of the bottle. I remembered that after touching the bottle I poured a little of that liquid to my hands and took a mint and put it to my mouth. Is it possible that if I had touched that dried blood it could have somehow travelled to my mouth via my hands when I took the mint? I did not have any cuts on my hands and Im only worried that if I had dried blood on my hand (did not see any) and touched the mint and contracted HCV this way...

Am I at risk? Should I be tested?

Is it generally common to become infected from dried blood; have you seen any cases?

Thank you for being so helpful!!! All the best for you!

Response from Dr. McGovern

Doubt you have anything to worry about and would not recommend testing.

This forum is designed for educational purposes only, and experts are not rendering medical, mental health, legal or other professional advice or services. If you have or suspect you may have a medical, mental health, legal or other problem that requires advice, consult your own caregiver, attorney or other qualified professional.

Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material.

The Body is a service of Remedy Health Media, LLC, 750 3rd Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017. The Body and its logos are trademarks of Remedy Health Media, LLC, and its subsidiaries, which owns the copyright of The Body's homepage, topic pages, page designs and HTML code. General Disclaimer: The Body is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. The information provided through The Body should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or a disease. It is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, consult your health care provider.